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This chapter hints at Ranma's perception of the wish, and that not
everything is as it appears to be. The next chapter will deal with Akane's
perception of gods, among other things. ^_^
Disclaimer time: Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty and Viz Communications
own Ranma 1/2. Kosuke Fujishima, Dark Horse Comics and Studio Proteus own
Oh! My Goddess (Ah! Megami-sama).
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
The Belle-ken
Chapter 1
"Hello, Akane, Nabiki," Ranma greeted the pair of girls, as he descended the
stairs ad entered the living room. "Greetings, Mr. Tendo."
"Hello, Son!" Soun exclaimed, tears running down his cheeks. "You make an
old man's heart weep with joy!"
"Excuse me, Mr. Tendo, but I am not your son. In fact, I'm much older than
you."
Ranma sighed, when he noticed that the Tendo patriarch had a mythical
ability of only hearing what pleased him. Deciding not to grieve over it, he
smiled at Kasumi as she entered the living room from the kitchen, carrying
breakfast.
"Let me help you with that, Kasumi dear," the pigtailed boy offered,
springing into action before the eldest Tendo had a chance to respond.
Freeing the bowls of miso soup from Kasumi's hands, Ranma made a bouquet of
orchids appear in them.
'How dare that no-good, perverted god flirt with my sister?!' Akane thought
angrily, hefting the table and trying to clobber Ranma's head with it.
Nabiki winced, hoping that Kasumi had enough food in the kitchen to replace
what their younger sister was about to destroy. And then, she found herself
staring at her own bowl of soup. Quickly surveying her surroundings, the
middle Tendo daughter noticed that everyone was seated at the table, and
that Ranma's food was already gone.
"Showing off again?" she asked with a smirk.
"Nah, just hungry," Ranma replied, sighing contentedly. "Kasumi's food
tastes even better than it smells, if that's possible."
Kasumi blushed at the compliment, mumbling "Thank you" in reply.
"Have you no shame?! How dare you still flirt with my sister?!" Akane
yelled, prepared to teach the upstart pervert that somehow forced his way
into their lives a lesson he won't forget.
"Akane," Nabiki said sternly, gripping Akane's right hand firmly. "It's too
early in the morning for an anger tantrum. Besides, I haven't eaten yet."
Grumbling, Akane settled down, but didn't try to punish Ranma anymore.
Nabiki was a dangerous enemy to have, and she wasn't about to risk
estranging her over a stupid boy.
"So, son, do you do kempo?" Soun asked, putting his newspaper aside. "You
are going to take over the dojo when you marry Akane, after all."
"I am?" Ranma asked, blinking. Then, he realized what the man said to him.
"Hey, there's no way we're going to get married!" both Ranma and Akane
shouted at the same time, glaring at each other.
Nabiki's mouth curved into a smile.
"Ranma probably doesn't know how to fight, daddy. He has power over orchids,
after all."
Ranma practically glowed, giving Nabiki a baleful gaze.
"And what's that supposed to mean, huh? Everyone's constantly putting me
down, whether it's the orchids, or my angel... I can't take it anymore!"
"Oh my, does it mean you're a fighter?"
"Well, not really. I studied martial arts for a few centuries to teach
everyone who teased me a lesson. Calling me a pansy just 'cause I control
flowers..."
Ranma's words descended into grumbling, and he pouted. The sight almost made
Nabiki laugh out loud.
"Why didn't you defend yourself against Akane, then, instead of stopping
time?" Kasumi asked, getting everyone's attention.
Ranma mumbled something unintelligible.
"What was that, Ranma-kun?" the eldest Tendo asked.
"I said it was all because of the Ultimate Force. Akane's still my client,
and I can't really attack her without some serious consequences. Since
stopping time doesn't have to be person-oriented, I can get away with it, if
I do it right."
"Right, so that's why you froze all of us instead of just Akane," Nabiki
said out loud, nodding.
"Well, yeah," Ranma replied, shrugging. "Trust me, the results of an
Ultimate Force on the warpath aren't pretty."
"I can imagine," Nabiki said dryly.
Looking at her watch, she sighed, and finished her breakfast. Putting the
soup bowl down, she thanked Kasumi for the food and got up from the table.
"Coming, Ranma?" Nabiki asked him, picking up her bookbag.
"Coming where?" the god asked in return, blinking owlishly.
"To school, you idiot!" Akane yelled, moving past him.
Realization dawned upon Ranma, and he started waving his hands rapidly.
"No! Nononono! Look, I'm not even registered..."
"I already took care of that," Nabiki said offhandedly.
"I... I already know everything they're teaching there!"
Nabiki shrugged.
"Who goes to school to study, Ranma-baby?"
"But... but! Aww... I don't wanna go to school!"
"Would you rather stay here with Daddy?"
Ranma blinked, and looked between Nabiki and Soun. He frowned.
There was, of course, a third option. He could go and see Belldandy, and
then they could... they could... have a party! Yes, a party! And then...
"Hey, Ranma... Ranma? Ranma!"
"You want to go and see a movie, Belldandy?"
Rolling her eyes, Nabiki walked out of the door. Without turning around, she
offered the god to just catch up to her if he changed his mind.
--------------------------------------------------
"And who might you be, Peasant?" Kuno asked arrogantly, posing.
"The name's Ranma, Patron of Orchids and G..."
Nabiki quickly covered Ranma's mouth, and told her classmate that Ranma was
staying with them for a while. The resulting battle destroyed half of the
schoolyard, before Kuno went down.
Seeing all the destroyed flora almost made Ranma cry.
'If Belldandy were here, she'd probably faint,' he thought dejectedly.
Ignoring the rain that started, Ranma cast his own version of the basic
regeneration and restoration spell. Smiling gently at the revived trees, the
pigtailed god proceeded into the school building.
Once Ranma got inside, he and his clothes glowed for a few moments, drying
the water almost instantly. Shaking his head at the troubles one had to
endure just to get to school these days in Japan, Ranma walked into his
classroom and introduced himself.
The girls only sighed and nodded collectively when he mentioned that he was
a god, while the boys all gave him the evil eye. Shrugging, he waved at
everyone, and took his proffered seat, which was, incidentally, right next
to Akane.
"Did you have to show off again?" she hissed.
"Oro?"
"Don't you 'oro' me, you idiot! Why did you say all those things about being
a god?"
Although peeved at being called names for no good reason, Ranma managed to
stop his mouth before it could go on autopilot and retaliate in kind.
"Because I am a god. We don't lie."
"Hmph!"
Still annoyed, Akane turned away from Ranma, purposely ignoring him for the
rest of the day.
Nabiki didn't seem to mind that fact, as she all but dragged Ranma to have
lunch with her, basking in the jealous glares she got from all the girls at
the schoolyard.
"So, Ranma-chan..."
"Umm, please call me Ranma," the pigtailed boy corrected her. Something
about that name just sent shivers down his spine for some reason.
Nabiki shrugged and smiled at him, not unlike a cat.
"Like I was saying, Ranma... you believe you are stuck here on Earth because
you Akane's wish somehow interacted with your thoughts?"
Ranma shrugged, grabbing a bit from his sandwich.
"I dunno, really. That's how it seems to me. I admit that there are worst
things than being stuck with your sister, so Yggdrasil must've messed up or
something."
"How nice of you to think of my sister in that way," Nabiki said with a
smirk.
Ranma frowned, resting his hands in his lap and looking down to stare at
them.
"That didn't come out quite right, and I'm sorry. I know Akane's a good
person deep down... heck, the system said she deserved a wish, right? That
alone must mean she has a lot of good traits."
"But she doesn't hold a candle to your Belldandy, does she?"
"Belldandy... she is the embodiment of perfection. No one holds a candle to
her; no one can. There is not a being in this world that is worthy of her."
The pigtailed boy sighed deeply, and continued staring down. Nabiki left him
alone, satisfied with the answers she had gotten for the time being.
Something seemed extremely fishy to her about the entire wish, but she
figured that they would all find out what that is in due time. Since it
concerned Ranma himself - that was the only thing she was sure about, due to
the wording of Akane's wish - Nabiki decided not to get too involved in
divine affairs.
'If worse comes to worse, he's not really family,' she thought to herself,
trying to ignore how cold-hearted that sounded.
--------------------------------------------------
Running all the way home, Akane arrived a good ten minutes before Nabiki or
Ranma. Deciding to relax from her taxing day, she turned on the television.
However, she was not prepared to se a pair of shapely, bronze legs emerge
from the screen.
"Who are you?" she asked, subconsciously tightening her hold on her bookbag.
Akane was pretty worked up after spending the entire day while trying to
avoid answering questions about Ranma. Couldn't those idiots get a life? So
what if he could take on Kuno, or somehow magically fix all of the damage...
or that he called himself a god. Who cared about that?
But most of all, what really got under Akane's skin was that his girl side
was a real knockout. While handsome in his real form and fairly popular at
Furinkan for his first day there, she had a real problem of accepting that a
guy could make a cuter girl than she... even if that guy was a god. It just
wasn't fair! And now, it seemed that more beautiful women followed him!
'He better not be inviting his girlfriends to my house...' Akane thought
angrily.
The platinum-haired guest frowned for a moment, slightly put off by the fact
that the girl in front of her had just zoned off all of a sudden and was now
slowly choking her bookbag.
"I'm Urd, the Norn of the Past, but you just call the Goddess of Love!" she
announced finally, disregarding the other girl's actions with a mental
shrug. "Is Ranma here?"
"How dare that... that PERVERT!" Akane yelled, tearing the bookbag into two
halves and reaching for the table. She had been right all along! Her
unfaithful fiance - not that she wanted him in the first place - did invite
his girlfriends to her house!
Urd had a chance to blink in confusion, before her world went dark.
--------------------------------------------------
"So, you came to visit me, Urd?" Ranma asked her, wincing sympathetically
when the goddess stirred and moved the wet towel from her forehead.
"Yeah... I figured I'd give you a hand down here on Midgard. Besides..."
"You thought it'd be fun, didn't you?" Ranma finished with a smile on his
lips.
Urd sighed.
"I didn't expect to be greeted by a..."
"Table?"
Urd sat up, groaning, and pressed the wet towel back to her forehead.
"I didn't know you were psychic, Ranma," she remarked, looking at him.
"Nah, I just got the same greeting," Ranma said offhandedly.
"Really? No bullshit?"
"Urd, you swear like a demon," Ranma said, chuckling. "But yeah, really."
"Maybe it's the local custom or something," Urd ventured thoughtfully.
"Could be," Ranma agreed. "On my first day at school, I had to fight this
incredibly resilient kendoist just to get inside."
Urd summarized the situation in one word, "Weird".
Offering the goddess his hand, Ranma helped her to her feet. She took a step
forward, before stumbling and holding onto his shoulder for support.
"I'm sorry about the disorientation you're feeling, Urd," Ranma said
remorsefully. "Unfortunately, I was never that good in healing spells for
either mortals or gods, and my magic's been taxed already after I had to fix
the damage that idiot kendoist caused at school... I just don't have the
mana for the really powerful stuff."
"That's alright, Ranma. I know you did your best, and I'm feeling much
better already," Urd reassured him.
"In that case..."
Ranma handed the goddess an orchid.
"Here's a little something... just for you. A beautiful flower, for a
beautiful goddess."
Blushing slightly, Urd took the proffered flower.
"You know, Ranma, that if you talked around Belldandy like that, she'd
either slap you or go out with you."
"G-Go out with me? Belldandy? R-Really?"
Ranma went to sigh excitedly in a corner of the room, occasionally talking
with one of the walls. Seeing this, Urd slapped her forehead in disgust,
immediately regretting that act as the pain registered.
'I see we still have a long way to go... but I am not called the Goddess of
Love for nothing!'
--------------------------------------------------
End of Chapter 1.
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Disclaimer:
Ladies and gents, all characters contained herein belong to Rumiko
Takahashi, should they be Ranma, or Capcom, should they be Megaman X. All
rights to the respective owners. For X buffs out there, only the events
through X3 have occurred in the X timeline that I'm using. I've played the
others, but that's where I'm setting the timeline. You'll find out why
later. Now that that's out of the way...
*****************
Toltiir looked up sharply, hearing the distinctive sound of metal being
hit against stone. Finding the source of the sound was easy, since there was
only one other person in the immediate vicinity, besides for 'Foxie'.
* * * * * *
Flashfyre5 Presents
* * * * * *
The armored humanoid approached Mimir's well with a calm certainty. He
had a big grin on his face, and his ice blue eyes glittered in the morning
sun.
* * * * * *
A Flaming Amarant Production
* * * * * *
His oversized, armored hands flexed every now and again, and the dark red
jewel set in the middle of his forehead glinted, reflecting the sun. His
silver and purple body shone, clean enough to reflect.
* * * * * *
In association with Digital Wizardry Studios, Minnesota
* * * * * *
"Hey," Toltiir hissed at Great Fox, rousing him. "You know who this guy
is?" Great Fox looked up and located the unusual intruder.
"Yeah," Great Fox returned. "I met him on the job a few years back. He
had a different body, though." Raising his voice, he called, "Hey, Siggy!
How're you doing?"
"I'm fine," he replied, arriving at the well. "Been a while since we
met."
"Yeah. You got a new body," Great Fox commented. "It's a lot classier
than your last one."
"Thanks," 'Siggy' replied, his grin getting a bit larger.
"Excuse me," Toltiir interjected. "You going to introduce me?"
"Oh yeah, sorry," Great Fox said, chagrined. "Toltiir, meet Sigma, a
Greater Spirit from a remote little timeline. Sigma, this is Toltiir, Elder
God of Mischief."
"Nice to meet you," Sigma said politely.
"Pleasure's all mine," Toltiir returned, his politeness superficial at
best. "You wouldn't happen to be the Sigma that's been reincarnated more
often than any other being, would you?
"That I am," Sigma confirmed. "Ten times, last Wednesday. (Note: That
total is accurate as of MMX5)
"I've heard things about you," Toltiir said, distrustful.
"That's just from a mind-affecting virus that they put into his mortal
body when they reincarnate him," Great Fox explained. "He's actually a
pretty nice guy, once you get to know him."
"Thanks," said Sigma.
"No problem. What brings you here, anyway?" Great Fox asked.
"I heard that you guys were letting spirits in on your Bet. Care to let
me have a try?" Sigma asked.
"Sounds fine," Toltiir agreed. "You know the rules, right?"
"Yeah," Sigma confirmed, looking into Mimir's well. A few seconds
passed, and images flashed in the bottom until one finally made Sigma smile.
"This one," he said. "Crash it into the baseline."
"Crash?" Great Fox asked, surprised.
"Yeah. I always wanted to see just how tough the human race was. Here's
my chance," Sigma said, smirking. Sighing, Great Fox pulled on the indicated
timeline until it followed a course that would fuse it with the baseline.
"May Kami-sama forgive me," Great Fox whispered. Toltiir, knowing the
immediate effects of a crash, nodded in agreement.
* * * * * *
The Opening Bet
Prelude: Collision Course
A Ranma 1/2- Megaman X crossover
A fanfic for 'A Second Bet'
" " = speech
<" "> = panda board
< > = thought
* * * * * *
Ranma, standing next to his father, gazed at the 'mystical' training
grounds and snorted in derision.
"Don't look like much to me, Pop," he commented offhandedly. "Kinda
interesting, though. You ready yet?" Ranma asked, dropping his pack.
"Whenever you are, Boy," his father taunted, leaping atop one of the
poles. Ranma followed suit, finding that the bamboo poles were more
challenging to stand on than he'd originally thought.
* * * * * *
Unbeknownst to the inhabitants of Ranma's universe, another would soon
collide with it, changing it forever. This kind of thing, however, was not
uncommon. Fusions happened often, and crosses almost weekly. What made them
unremarked upon is the Cosmic Law that all planes that dictates that all
crossings and fusions are to be magically softened to the point that none can
notice them. In this case, the timelines were so close to convergence that
they were already affecting one another. In temporal terms, five minutes
until the fusion.
* * * * * *
Ranma leapt agilely, avoiding his father's axe kick and landing neatly on
a nearby bamboo shoot. His father, recovering from the failed maneuver, did
the same, and they faced off again. This time, Ranma attacked his father,
feinting a chop with his right hand while truly attacking from below with
what would be a vicious snap kick. Genma, though, saw it, and deflected both
blows, and the two found themselves regaining their balance upon the dried
bamboo.
* * * * * *
A provision made upon the Cosmic Law of Fusions, however, is that a
manipulated fusion need not conform to the 'soft landing' model, though it
would do so naturally. If, however, this effect is refused, the two planes
will 'crash' into one another, causing catastrophic damage and permanent
change to the now-united universe. The effect is similar to a crash between
a pickup truck and a sedan, the pickup being the baseline and the sedan being
the fusing line. Though the truck will sustain considerable damage, it will
survive. The sedan, however, will be obliterated in the crash. In essence,
during a planar crash, the more potent timeline will absorb the other, at
significant cost to itself. This would be the case for Ranma's universe, his
home plane being the more potent of the two lines. Time to collision: 3
minutes.
* * * * * *
Ranma grinned, enjoying the sparring match. He'd seen a few openings in
his father's forms, any of which would have allowed him to send the old man
into one of the springs below, but he hadn't. He was sure that Genma had
extended the same courtesy to him, as extended battle on the poles was more
than enjoyable. It was exhilarating, and Ranma could now see why this place
was mystical. Finally seeing a hole in his father's defenses that he simply
couldn't ignore, he side kicked the old man in the stomach, sending him
tumbling into a spring below.
"That all, old man?" he called, waiting for his father to surface. A few
seconds passed, and Ranma began to grow uneasy. Finally, a panda wearing a
karate gi that was too small for it burst out of the spring, leaping for a
pole. Ranma, alarmed, leapt backwards onto a pole that was much farther away
from the bear than he had originally occupied. Left alone, the panda
balanced atop a pole and assumed a kempo stance meant for power. Ranma fell
into a guarding position, not knowing what else to do.
* * * * * *
Time to collision: 30 seconds.
* * * * * *
"Pop?" Ranma called. "Where are you?" The panda seemed to try and say
something, but Ranma ignored it. Finally, something that he'd dismissed as
background noise reached him.
"Oooh, is very bad. Customer fall in spring of drown panda," the guide
to the grounds shouted. "Very tragic story of panda who drown there 3000
year ago. Now any what fall in spring take body of panda!"
"Pop?!" Ranma exclaimed, looking back to the bear. "Is that you?" The
bear tried to make more noises, then finally produced a sign out of nowhere.
<"Who were you expecting? A movie star?"> the sign read.
"Pop, look at yourself!" Ranma yelled.
* * * * * *
5...
* * * * * *
Genma examined himself, suddenly realizing what had happened. Seeing the
Jusenkyo guide standing next to the pools and making his own connections, the
panda made to leap.
* * * * * *
4...
* * * * * *
The guide, surprised and scared by the 800lb. mass of fur flying at him,
did the only thing a sensible person would do: he ran.
* * * * * *
3...
* * * * * *
Ranma, resting atop the pole, suddenly felt queasy.
"Pop," he called, catching the enraged panda's attention. "Something's
wrong!" Once the panda abandoned his rage, he too could feel the intense
uneasiness that suddenly engulfed him.
* * * * * *
2...
* * * * * *
As he stood still, waiting for an attack, Ranma's queasiness grew
swiftly. It felt almost as if something inside of him was changing,
twisting. Moaning, he gripped his stomach and fought for his balance.
* * * * * *
1...
* * * * * *
Losing the battle to stay aloft, Ranma toppled from the bamboo pole and
plummeted towards the springs below. As he fell, the queasiness inside of
him turned into a cold, hard knot of pure pain, twisting and growing as he
fell. Screaming in agony, Ranma fell.
* * * * * *
Collision
* * * * * *
For one eternal instant, Ranma's entire world was pain, in every sense of
the word. He could feel his body and world warping and shifting around him,
and as a martial artist highly in tune with his world, this was a most
unpleasant occurrence. Then, as suddenly as it had hit him, it was gone. In
blissful numbness, Ranma splashed headfirst into the spring below him, beyond
caring what it would do to him.
Finding himself underwater and out of air, however, was something that
Ranma quite quickly decided was something he did care about, and swam for the
surface of the spring. Surfacing, he gasped in a deep breath of sweet air,
ignoring the fact that his body felt very different.
"Oooh, very very bad," he heard the guide say. "Customer fall in spring
of drown girl. Very tragic legend of girl what drown there 1500 year ago.
Now, what fall in spring take body of girl!" Idly noting the guide's words,
Ranma glanced at his body. He saw breasts. Breasts which were attached to
'his' chest. From deep in his gut, Ranma screamed, shocked and terrified at
the change. After he'd exhausted his breath he took another, slowly and
deeply. Building his resolve, he climbed from the spring and looked the
guide in the eye.
"There any way to get rid of this?" he asked, barely keeping his voice
under control. He wanted nothing more than to take off after his moronic
father for bringing him here, but decided that that would solve nothing.
"No way I know to remove curse," the guide replied. "But hot water make
you normal again until splash with cold. I get some water for Customers?"
"Yeah," Ranma agreed with a feral look in his eyes. "We'll be in in a
minute or two." The guide, deciding that discretion was the better part of
valor, hurried off to his hut and shut the door. As soon as he did, the
sounds of battle broke out from the area outside his hut. Shaking his head,
the guide went to heat water in a kettle that he kept for just such
occasions. Just as it began to steam, the sounds of fighting died down and
the young Customer entered the hut, dragging the elder one. Silently, the
guide handed the kettle to the boy, who in turn poured half of the contents
on his unconscious father. Instantly, the panda resumed its human state,
still knocked out. Smiling in relief, Ranma poured the rest of the water on
himself.
As soon as the change happened, Ranma knew that something was Not Right.
It took a second for him to decide, but this body felt even more Wrong than
the female one. As good a martial artist as he was, his joints were moving
with absolute smoothness, and the aches that he'd sustained from his father
had vanished. Also, his center of balance was off, even further than it had
been when he'd been female. His legs weighed too much, the kettle was too
light, and he had something on his head. Also, the Jusenkyo guide, the
singular man in the world that had seen more bizarre physical transformations
than anyone, was staring in surprise.
"Never see springs do that before," the guide commented, glad that he was
already sitting down. Ranma finally braced himself for whatever had happened
to him and looked at himself. His scream set off an avalanche on the far
side of a nearby mountain.
* * * * * *
The Apocalypse, as it came to be known, had much more far-reaching
effects than an odd body for one pigtailed martial artist. As two worlds
tried to merge without a magical cushioning, terrible things happened. In
places where two buildings would share one plot of land, they were often both
demolished. The Vatican, for example, long considered holy by even Maverick
forces in the other world, had been left completely intact. However, two
identical stone complexes attempting to occupy a plot of land that was barely
large enough to hold one ended in dire results for both. The entire
cathedral and all its surrounding buildings were flattened. None lived
through the disaster.
Great Britain suffered badly. Though it had suffered during the Maverick
Wars in the divergent timeline, there was enough left in many places for
significant damage to be wreaked. Russia fared well, having been a major
battlefield during the Wars, as did Japan, for much the same reason. Much of
Europe and Africa was heavily damaged, but damaged in ways that were either
easily replicable, in the case of the African nations, or the government was
mobilized quickly enough to repair and restore with relative ease, despite
the loss in life.
South America went relatively untouched, beyond the fact that much of the
Amazon simply vanished in the moment that the planes fused. This was hailed
as a Godsend initially, as farmers were now easily able to farm the land.
However, the damage to the climate was horrific and, due to the vanishing of
the forest, the cures for AIDS and cancer were irretrievably annihilated.
Australia didn't change much, aside from the fact that Sydney was leveled.
Most of the Australians, being Australians, simply packed up what they could
and moved into the Outback. Nobody noticed, or cared, for that matter.
North America, however, fared the worst. For a long time, it had
remained aloof from the Wars, disdaining the use of reploids as a viable
source of labor. Canada had remained neutral, as always, and America had
just started to produce weapons, selling them to the highest bidder. Thus,
when the planes merged, there was no such thing as a city left standing in
the entire continent. Pristine monuments to democracy and capitalism
shattered, finding that it truly was impossible for two objects to occupy the
same space simultaneously. The death toll was horrific, and few that had
lived in the cities survived. It took the United States decades to rebuild,
Canada a full century, and the Central American countries never truly
recovered, despite the dedicated work of their surviving populous.
Eventually, they united to form the Confederation of Central America. A
country founded upon the need for an oligarchy, the new country hoped to
prosper. Just the opposite happened. The rich drug barons that now
controlled the state grew even richer off Government funds, and nothing
significant for reconstruction ever happened. The Confederation disbanded
within the first decade of its existence.
All in all, the final death toll was estimated at 2.49 billion killed
from falling buildings, resultant chaos, or simply ceasing to exist.
Wide scale destruction was no the only catastrophe that occurred on the
Day of the Apocalypse. On a person-to-person basis, people were changed,
forced into bodies that they could not control, nor did they want.
Thankfully, this was a very small percentage of the remaining population, but
it was truly unusual for a community to be free of any 'changed' members.
Many times this change was anything but beneficial. Some children were
changed into small construction reploids, barely possessed of an artificial
intelligence. A few older people found themselves aged greatly, and kept
alive only by the presence of nanoids in their systems. Young people found
themselves with cybernetic modifications. Middle aged people became defense
robots. Of course, this was not absolute. There was variance in all age
groups, but those that this happened to were very few and far between. In
fact, only a few thousand total were changed worldwide, with a mere handful
being different from the archetypes.
Their change, however, forever marked them as a symbol of the Apocalypse.
Many people shunned and hated them, believing that those few changed
individuals had caused the event. Lives were upended. Faced with a sudden
hatred from those that they'd known and loved, many of the changed killed
themselves within the first year of their new existence. It became common
practice for a community to quietly celebrate the passing of a changed
person, however horrible that might have seemed to them before the
Apocalypse. Nobody cared. So many people were dead; what would a few more
matter?
* * * * * *
Ranma, in his girl form, stared at the still waters of the only spring in
Jusenkyo that she could approach. She knew this spring, knew it intimately.
This was the spring that had cursed her, that had changed her life. She
hated this spring like nothing else, and yet it was the only one that she
could even get near to, no matter what she did. Kneeling, she looked at the
still waters more closely, making a decision.
<Can I?> she wondered. <Another dip in this thing and I'll never turn
into my other form again. The again, I'll be a girl for the rest of my life.
Can I do that?> A minute passed as she stared at the spring. Finally
arriving at a decision, she pulled a water bottle from her pack and dropped
it into the pool. Using a dead stick to pull on a cloth loop tied around the
thing's neck, she submerged it to fill the bottle. Pulling it from the
spring, she stared at it, finalizing her decision.
she thought as she screwed the top onto the bottle. <But maybe I will
someday.> Solemnly, she lifted the bottle by its cap and set it on a rock,
so the water on the outside would dry. <At least we get to go back to Japan.
I wonder what Pop says we gotta do before we go home, though,> she wondered.
Sighing, she dismissed it to the back of her mind and waited for her water
bottle to dry.
***Author's Notes***
This is the prelude to my Betfic, "The Opening Bet". I know that I
haven't explained much yet, but that will come in time. No, I haven't
described Ranma's other form, but his dislike stems mainly from the fact that
he doesn't know how to deal with it. Also, I will be using 'she' to describe
Ranma when he's in his female form, as well as the suffix "-chan" once I get
further along into the story. I know that I'm running this thing, but since
I'm not deciding upon the winner, I've decided to compete. If anyone doubts
my honesty in tallying votes, E-mail me and say so and I'll send you a copy
of all voting forms when the time comes. In any case, if you've got any C&C
or flames, send 'em to Flashfyre5@aol.com. I may seem weird for soliciting
flames, but I am of the opinion that it takes fire to temper steel, so to
speak. I'm posting this story on a chapter-to-chapter basis, so I'll post
whenever I get one done.
~Flash
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Here it is. This part is much bigger than the other two, and is more
like a 'chapter' than simply a 'part', as it has it's own little story.
I'm going for a serialized effect here within the larger fic, as the
overall scope covers several weeks. Judging by the series, I don't
think several weeks _could_ go by in the Tenchi universe without at
least a couple of interesting things happening, so, to try and keep the
tone and pacing of the original, I added some quick subplots. It's not
filler. Really. Think of it as more... Character development. Yeah.
And where I usually post in 30kb or so as a part, I didn't want to cut
it off in the middle, then have the next part contain half of the next
one as well. So, here she is.
C&C welcome, constructive or no. Please?
All Tenchi Muyo characters and situations belong to the creators and
AiC and Pioneer, obviously. If I even thought of claiming these were my
own I'd probably be thrown into a small cell where I'd be forced to eat
Stefan Gagne to live.
Tenchi awoke from a highly erotic dream with a violent
sneeze and a somewhat more pleasurable shudder to find himself
sleeping on the wet spot.
More specifically, he _was_ the wet spot. Cold, clammy,
sticky moisture now made his boxers cling to his body in an
entirely new and unusual way as he sat up in bed, twisting his t-
shirt around so that it no longer choked him.
Not being completely sheltered, Tenchi quickly figured out
just what that meant. Three nanoseconds later, he blushed so
brightly red he practically glowed in the predawn gloom.
HE had done THAT.
In his SHORTS.
Masturbation was one thing. He wasn't proud of it,
wouldn't admit to it, and sure didn't think about it, but it was
within his experience. Hell, it was all he was getting lately.
But apparently, it just didn't cut it, and the backflow had
finally managed to burst forth. This had never happened to him
before.
He thought furiously, trying to recapture the errant dream.
Let's see... Patiently explaining the earth custom of
stabbing people with carrots to Mihoshi? ...No, probably not.
Tenchi couldn't figure out where that one had come from.
Tied up and trapped in a laboratory with Washu, who was
desperately trying to extract some sort of fluid sample from him
but kept getting pulled away by her experiments? He got an
erection just from the thought. Close... But still probably not
it. Washu really just wasn't his type, something to do with the
childlike body.
Hmm, maybe that dream of what Kiyone was going to do to
Mihoshi with the vibrator, the rubber hose, and the length of
rope? His breathing went a little shallow at the thought. Oooh.
He didn't think Kiyone had meant she was going to do _that_,
really, especially considering how incredibly pissed she had been
at the time. The Great Sextoy Hunt had not gone well. But
really, in that sort of context, what was a young, horny,
frustrated guy going to think when she'd said that?
No, that still wasn't it. Think, boy, think. What was
that last dream...? He lay back again, laying one arm over his
eyes to think better.
Tenchi was in the living room. Why was he there? He
didn't know. But Ryoko was there, and Ayeka was there, and he
really really really wanted to have sex with them. Really
really.
Ayeka was kissing Ryoko, and Ryoko was kissing Ayeka, and
both of their arms and legs... And where were their clothes?
Doesn't matter. Their hands were here and there and there and it
was really starting to give him a woody and then he was in the
middle and oooOOOHH! UG! UG! UGGH! UUGGGG! UUUuuuuhhhh...
Ahha...
Ah, that was the one.
Tenchi ruefully considered the fresh addition to his
shorts, then decided that maybe he should clean himself up and do
his level best to avoid thinking about anything sexual for the
rest of the day.
With a slight grimace of effort, he levered himself out of
bed and walked over to get some clean shorts. It was sort of
funny; his muscles felt so much like quivering jelly that he
nearly fell.
Hmm, should he try to sneak to the bathroom and get a bath
first, maybe risking being seen with wet shorts? Or should he
bite the bullet and change now?
Deciding to change his shorts then, Tenchi stripped them
off, leaving himself clad in nothing but his shirt.
(What a mess,) he thought ruefully, looking down at
himself. (I hope spring vacation gets here soon.)
And thus it was that Ryoko found him when she phased
through the wall behind him.
Tenchi didn't notice.
Ryoko had been intending to wake him up gently if she found
him asleep, so hadn't called out a cheery 'Good morning!' as she
entered. Suddenly seeing Tenchi awake, standing up, and with his
bare rear end peeking out from under his shirt had the immediate
effect of changing her plans.
Flying was infinitely more silent than walking, so Ryoko
simply hung in mid-aid, floating gently to right behind the
clueless boy, then, as he bent over, she grabbed a cheek in each
hand and squeezed.
"YAAAH!" he yelled in surprise, straightening, jumping, and
grabbing his butt in what was essentially the same movement. His
head jerked around so quickly it nearly gave him whiplash, and
when he saw who it was, he glared furiously. "Ryoko! Don't do
that!"
"Good morning to you too, Tenchi!" she chirped brightly.
Then, bending at the waist, she gave another bright "And to you
too!" a little lower.
Blushing furiously, he covered himself with both forearms
as he tried to get his shorts on quick enough to spare further
embarrassment. "Good morning to you, too, Ryoko," he replied as
he jerked the drawstrings tight and tried to unobtrusively nudge
his soiled other pair under the bed.
She grabbed him into a hug, wrapping herself around him and
french kissing him into a good mood.
Surprised at first, Tenchi responded quickly, thrusting his
tongue at hers and sighing as she gently bit and tugged at his
lip.
When she finally let go, Tenchi staggered back lightheaded
and sat down heavily on the bed.
Ryoko followed suit in her own special way, wrapping her
legs around his waist and sitting in his lap facing him. "Well,
I'd ask why you were _up_ so early, but I have a _deep_ feeling
that the reason is me," she purred seductively into his ear.
"Huh?" Tenchi replied cleverly.
"Good boy!" Ryoko said, laughing, and gave him another
quick peck before leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Now, here's
what I want you to do..."
As she had cleverly planned, at that moment Tenchi would
have agreed to anything.
****************
Ayeka was asleep.
This is in fact something of an understatement. To say
'Ayeka is asleep.' is like saying 'The sun is hot.' or 'Washu is
a genius.' The stress of a highly pleasurable but interrupted
dream, nearly getting killed by Ryoko over an innocent prank,
sleeping in the same bed with the same, and waking up several
times in a short period to prevent their completely platonic
relationship from being jeopardized had taken its toll on Ayeka's
much needed rest.
So, when she finally had gotten back to sleep, it had been
the deep sleep of the exhausted. She lay on her stomach; face
sideways on her pillow, both hands protectively covering her
head. So, as it stood, Ayeka was asleep.
And then those wandering, naughty hands just _had_ to run
up and down her body, exploring every nook and cranny. It wasn't
unpleasant, just unasked for.
Gentle fingers brushed her hair back from her ear, stroking
the fine dark mass and directing the braid to the side. Light
fingertips traced the delicate shell of her ear, then trailed
down to her back and firmly rubbed the muscles there.
Her smooth breathing broke several times to sigh in
pleasure, and then shifted slightly as her buttocks were caressed
and kneaded. A certain stimuli woke a response buried deeply in
her subconscious, and at a light cupping touch along her side she
obediently rolled over onto the opposite side, comfortably
pressing her behind into the person sharing the futon with her.
Encouraged by the response, a tongue lapped at her ear,
drawing the lobe in to where it could be nibbled on easily. The
only hand now free wrapped around and trailed lightly up her
stomach, sending ripples of muscle contractions along its path
until it cupped her breast. Diligent fingers found the telltale
bump of a nipple through the cloth, teasing it and tweaking it
until it stood out firmly enough to be fondled with ease.
Her breathing changed, becoming more and more shallow and
irregular. She was on the verge of waking up.
Responding to unseen commands, the hand went lower,
gingerly picking through the layers of cloth until it could
finally pick at the waistband of her panties.
And that was when Ayeka was no longer awake, her eyes open
and staring straight ahead.
The radical change in breathing was noticed immediately,
and the hand froze.
After a few long seconds, Ayeka realized that she was
holding her breath and let it out, consciously returning to her
earlier steady pattern.
"Whew. I thought she woke up like last time. Can't have
that," came Ryoko's voice, very, very, very quietly.
The hand restarted, gently pulling away the elastic and
slipping in, slowly getting closer until it rested firmly over
her mound.
Ayeka's breathing faltered several times, and thoughts
raced through her head. (Ryoko! She wasn't asleep! She was
just faking! And now she's... She's... Am I just going to
_let_ her?)
Firm pressure from one fingertip parted the outer labia and
barely touched the sensitive nub of her clitoris. The effect was
electric.
"Ryoko! Don't do that!" Ayeka yelled as she jerked the
hand out and used the arm as leverage to roll over and face the
trespasser.
"Good morning to you too, Ayeka!" Tenchi chirped brightly
and kissed her on the end of the nose.
Ryoko floated gently to the ground on his other side,
laughing.
"Tenchi! What?!" she exclaimed in confusion, sitting up on
her futon and staring about wildly.
Struggling up herself, Ryoko choked out, "Wakey wakey,
_Ayeka-chan_! Wake up before the big bad pirate ravishes you!"
before collapsing in a fresh fit of giggles.
Tenchi smiled in amusement as well, but privately didn't
think it was quite _that_ funny.
Ayeka didn't think it was funny at all, but was left
glaring in impotent fury.
Finally, her mirth subsided for a time, Ryoko stood up and
smirked at the princess. "Really now, it was just as joke. But
I was surprised, you were actually going to let me!" Seeing
Ayeka's look, she cut her off before she could say anything.
"Oh, no, don't give me that 'I was asleep' crap. You were awake
long before that."
"B-"
"AND," Ryoko continued, "I know you didn't know it was
Tenchi because your shoulders were so stiff."
Ayeka finally just extended her glare rather than creating
a new one.
"Oh, no! Is my lover mad at me?" Ryoko asked worriedly,
the light tone offsetting the mocking words. "Is widdle Ayeka-
chan going to kick me out of our bed? No more nookie? Oh, no!
Anything but that!" She got on her hands and knees, groveling at
Ayeka's feet.
Ayeka's jaw clenched and her hands balled into fists as she
gradually got angrier and angrier, then, suddenly, she relaxed,
the power that had been charging the air vanishing like morning
dew. She laughed.
Ryoko stared in horror. That wasn't how it was supposed to
go.
Tenchi, who had been edging away from the probable battle,
relaxed. It had just been a little prank, after all.
"Good one, good one," Ayeka applauded, even going so far as
to clap several times, loudly and distinctly. "You really had me
going. Ha ha ha, I'm being fondled by Ryoko in my own bed. Oh,
the horror. And I fell for it big time. That's very good,
nicely planned out, perfect execution. In fact, that's such a
good prank that it completely outweighs the little cold water
incident last night and any further revenge you seek would just
be petty and cruel. Right Tenchi?" she finished, fixing him with
a Look that said 'Agree with me NOW and I'll conveniently forget
this transgression.'
Needless to say, it was a very succinct look.
Tenchi gulped and nodded. "Uh, yeah! Petty and cruel..."
he trailed off, giving Ayeka a pleading look.
"There, you see?" Ayeka continued to Ryoko. "Petty and
cruel. And no, I'm not worried about you doing something you're
not supposed to do to me in bed. In fact, I had a good night's
sleep. We should do that again tonight." She gave Ryoko a
slightly modified version of the Look, and the pirate wilted
accordingly. "Good," she continued, much more slowly and a good
bit mock-lecherously, much to Ryoko's consternation. "Now, let's
get a bath. We're going shopping today and I for one don't wish
to smell like one of the unwashed mass."
****************
"Ahh..."
"Ahhh..."
The water steamed around them as Ryoko and Ayeka soaked up
the heat in the furo. Ayeka was right, they did have a shopping
trip planned for later, and it was good to be clean.
"I've been thinking."
"You?! Think? No!" Ayeka exclaimed in mock astonishment.
"Hah hah." Ryoko gave her a level stare. "But I've been
thinking about the Tenchi situation.
"And?"
"What would it take to get Tenchi appointed as a noble?"
"A good idea. Unfortunately, rather a lot, I'm afraid."
Ayeka pursed her lips pensively. "It's been done before, raising
a commoner to the status of noble, usually the entire family.
But only in the case of the person developing power like that of
the Jurian royal family, both political and personal. And unless
Tenchi suddenly gets real popular with the Jurian empire and then
wields an energy sword that he created without artificial means,
we're out of luck."
Ryoko frowned. "But what about heroic deeds and stuff?"
"Well... That's happened before as well, although much
less common. He would have to perform some great deed for the
empire, and the great deeds the empire needs performed are
usually so great that only someone who has already fulfilled the
first two conditions could actually do it." She paused to let
that sink in. "Which pretty much puts us back where we started."
"That's not really true," Ryoko countered. "With both of
our powers combined, I'm sure we could back Tenchi up enough for
him to perform some great service to the empire."
Ayeka shook her head. "It has to be Tenchi's doing, and
his alone."
"Damn." Ryoko shook her long cyan hair out and leaned back
into the water, soaking it more.
"Still, that was a good idea," Ayeka continued by way of
encouragement. "Maybe we could modify it. I know! He could
capture and turn in the dread space pirate Ryoko! And then he
could be appointed as a noble and we could marry, and don't
worry, we would visit you in prison..." Ayeka ducked the splash
of water Ryoko sent her way, but didn't react fast enough to
prevent being dunked.
****************
Ah, the mall. Nowhere else is capitalism found in quite so
undiluted a form. In many ways malls are like shrines to
capitalism, and all the throngs of customers are simply devoted
worshipers.
And so it was among these throngs that Tenchi, Ryoko,
Ayeka, and Sasami strolled.
"Been a while, ain't it," Ryoko commented.
"Quite," agreed Ayeka.
"If you two hadn't spent so much money on those silly
clothes we could have done this more," Sasami chided. "Although
that is a nice whip."
Tenchi glanced at Sasami in horror.
Seeing his expression, Ayeka shrugged to him sheepishly.
"Bridal training," she said, as if that explained all.
Ryoko snickered and wrapped her arms around Tenchi, pulling
him around a group of people going the other direction. "Don't
worry, Tenchi," she purred into his ear. "I'll keep you safe
from the perverted ways of those crazy Jurians."
Tenchi smiled at her. "Oh? You'd rather I be subjected to
your perverted ways?"
"Damn straight!"
"Hmph!" Ayeka and Sasami walked closer now that the group
had passed, and Ayeka latched onto his arm and pulled him away,
although she let go as soon as he was clear of Ryoko. "Ryoko may
have some good ideas," she began, smirking at her former rival,
"but she hasn't shown much creativity yet."
"Hey, just a minute!" Ryoko complained.
"I know you get most of your ideas from Jurian literature.
I've read 'Mutineer of the Kempian Moon' too, you know," Ayeka
jabbed, grinning.
Tenchi looked on, startled, as Ryoko actually blushed.
"What? Mutineer of the what?"
"Never mind," grumbled Ryoko.
"'Mutineer of the Kempian Moon', it's a series of Jurian
romance novels," Sasami explained. Then, seeing their collective
looks, she asked, "What? Ayeka had the collector's set, signed
by the author. I only read them once, really!"
"Sasami! You're much too young to have read those!"
"Yeah, as much as a stick in the mud Ayeka is, she's right
this time," Ryoko seconded. "Those are a little too adult for
you."
"And be the only girl I know that hadn't read them? That's
a little unfair." She pouted slightly, looking away, which was
good as they all had to swerve around a large tinkling fountain.
"Just how 'adult' were these books?" Tenchi asked.
Ryoko shrugged. "Hard to say. I've got two of them, I'll
let you read them when we get back."
"I dunno," Tenchi replied doubtfully.
"You might as well, Tenchi-chan," Ayeka interjected.
"Perhaps a look into my home culture will help you in the days
ahead."
"Well, maybe. Are they the first two?" Tenchi hated to
start reading in the middle of a series.
Ryoko snorted. "No, but it won't matter."
Ayeka nodded.
Tenchi shrugged. "Well, alright. I seem to have found
some time on my hands lately."
Both girls grimaced. "Don't remind me," Ryoko grumbled.
Something else involving the words 'old man' was said too faintly
for Tenchi to catch, which was probably just as well.
"Hey look!" Tenchi exclaimed, looking farther ahead of the
shops the girls were looking into. "Cookies! Who wants some?"
All window-shopping ceased by mutual agreement and they
made a beeline for the cookie stand. A startling number of bills
later, they were all richer in chocolate.
"Just the thing to tide us over until lunch," Tenchi
commented.
"Speaking of lunch," Ayeka began, "do you remember where
the café is that Mihoshi and Kiyone are supposed to meet us at?"
Tenchi nodded. "Yeah, I've been there several times. It's
on the lower floor on the other end of the mall," he said,
gesturing behind them. "It's a little after nine now, and they
said that they would have lunch with us at noon, so we've got a
few hours. What does everyone want to do?"
It is supposed that Tenchi can be forgiven for asking such
a question of three young girls in a large mall.
"SHOP!" chorused three voices.
Ryoko held a pose. The sky-blue sundress she wore accented
her hair nicely, and the little hat she had added made her look
years younger, almost like a little schoolgirl.
Tenchi, being the only audience at this time, studied it
with a critical eye. But not with a critical tongue. "You look
really good, Ryoko," he said honestly. "You should try different
dresses more often. It does make you look much younger,
however." Then a mischievous look came into his eyes. "Hey,
Sasami!" he called. "Come look at your new little sister!"
"Ha ha," Ryoko deadpanned, smiling despite herself.
Sasami emerged from the changing room in a yellow sundress
of her own, also wearing a hat. She looked at Ryoko for a minute
before breaking into giggles. "I see what you mean." She struck
a rather forceful pose and declared firmly, "Ryoko! From now on
I insist you call me Oneesan!"
Ryoko laughed. "Alright, Oneesan. But you've got to call
me Imoutochan!"
"Well _Imoutochan_," Ayeka interjected as she stepped out
of the changing room, "If you're going to be a part of the
family, you've got to show respect to your older sisters."
"Well, then, 'neechan, because I'm giving you respect, I
won't tell you that you look like a little girl wearing her
mother's dress."
The flower print dress Ayeka had picked out to try on was
just a little large for her, and the deeply cut neck flapped
openly, not being strained to the limits of its containment like
it had been designed to.
Tenchi snickered. "Yeah, I'm sorry, but I think that dress
was made for someone much bigger."
Ayeka frowned at them. "Are you saying something about the
fullness of my figure?"
"Nonono!" Tenchi said hurriedly. "That's not what I'm
saying at all!" he protested as Ryoko and Sasami grinned at his
discomfort.
"Well then, what _are_ you saying?" Ayeka asked
dangerously.
Tenchi nervously tapped two fingers together as he
carefully thought of his reply. "Ah, I'm just saying that you
might have picked the wrong dress off the rack, one that had been
made for a larger woman."
"So," Ayeka said distinctly. "You're saying that this
dress was made for someone... _bigger_."
Maybe if Tenchi had been paying closer attention to the
emphasis she put on the last word instead of being relieved that
a misunderstanding had been averted, he might not have sealed his
fate.
"Yes! That's it exactly," he replied, relieved.
Had this been a comedic Italian sketch, Ayeka would have
cried 'That's it!' and proceeded to beat the tar out of him. But
its not, and she had her own way of dealing with Tenchi's
transgressions.
Deliberately invading his personal space, she looked deep
into his eyes and said, "Bad Tenchi," in a low, throaty voice.
He immediately froze. "Bad Tenchi?"
"Bad Tenchi," she agreed, nodding. "When we get back,
newspaper."
He hung his head even as Ryoko and Sasami merrily chanted,
"Tenchi got in trou~ble, Tenchi got in trou~ble," in a singsong
voice.
"Now," Ayeka continued, "since you seem to know so much
about dress sizes, why don't you go pick something out?"
Tenchi scrambled in his haste to do her bidding, drawing
stares from across the department store. Drawing on his own
personal knowledge of what he liked to see her in, he soon picked
out a nice long skirt and blouse combination, both decorated with
falling cherry blossom petals. Truth be told, he _didn't_ know
her size, but it certainly looked like it would fit.
He grabbed it and hastened back to where the girls were
standing around discussing his predicament. They fell silent at
his approach, making him even more nervous as he gingerly handed
the dress to Ayeka.
"Well, it's certainly pretty. But then, I already knew you
had good taste," Ayeka said, smiling as she turned the cloth over
in her hands, feeling of it's texture.
Tenchi blushed and studied his hands, even as Ryoko laughed
and Sasami giggled.
"Now," she began, looking at the size tag, "to check the...
What? An eight?!" She looked up again and fixed him with a cold
look. "Are you trying to say I've gained weight?"
"Here we go again," Sasami commented.
Ryoko nodded and went back into the changing room to try on
another dress, unconsciously rubbing her posterior. There was no
stopping the princess when she got in one of those moods, a fact
Ryoko knew all too well.
Several hours and many stores later, everyone met in the
aforementioned cafe.
"There they are, Kiyone!" Mihoshi said excitedly to her
partner, shifting her bag from one hand to another.
"I see them, let's go on over," Kiyone replied casually,
carrying her own large bag.
Tenchi and the girls waved when they saw the two, and
quickly invited them to sit down. Everyone already had a drink
sitting before them. "Hello, Mihoshi, Kiyone," he said, nodding
to each in turn. "How are you doing?"
"Good, and you?" Kiyone asked politely. "How are you
holding up?" There was no need for her to specify his problem.
"I've been worse," Tenchi answered honestly. He turned and
signaled one of the waitresses.
"Are you all having fun?" Mihoshi asked brightly.
"Yep! I bought some new manga, and Ayeka and Ryoko got
some new clothes, and I got this really nice dress for this
summer, and oh, I got this really neat video game!" Sasami
paused, thinking. "And there was something else. None of us
knew, but maybe one of you have heard of it. Tenchi found
something in a gag gift store called soap-on-a-rope. What's it
for?"
Kiyone shrugged. "I don't know. I've never heard of it
before."
"But why would you want something like that?" she wondered.
"No one else knew either."
"I know!" answered Mihoshi. "It's for people who are tired
of having soap slip out of their hands and having to chase it."
Everyone raised an eyebrow.
"Didn't you ask the clerk?" Kiyone asked finally.
Sasami nodded. "He wouldn't say for sure, just that it was
a gift for anyone that was going to jail."
Ayeka shrugged elaborately, drawing attention to herself.
"Probably another one of those useless inventions these Earth
people make. It's a wonder Washu left, she fit right in. Have
you seen the hardhat with the suction cup on the back? It's
supposed to keep your head from falling forward when you fall
asleep on the subway."
Sasami perked up, but didn't say anything.
Mihoshi nodded seriously. "It really works, too! Although
since we've been working here I haven't ridden on the subway."
Kiyone winced, then looked up at their waitress as she
arrived. "Hey, Sayuri. About ready to get off your shift?"
"Oh, hey, Kiyone. And you too, Mihoshi. Yeah, only a
little while left now. What'll it be?" she asked, pulling out a
notepad and a pen.
After taking their orders, she hurried off. "I'll be right
back with your drinks," she called as she left.
"Hey, we need you to send a message to Washu. And a
favor."
"What kind of message, Ryoko?" Kiyone asked, looking over
at her. Up until now she'd been strangely silent.
"You know we're going to go visit Ayeka's parents in a few
weeks, right?" Ryoko explained.
Both Kiyone and Mihoshi nodded.
"Well, since it's on the way, and Ryo-Ohki gets tired on
long flights, we figured we'd stop by at Washu's-"
"Chan's new home," finished Ayeka before mouthing 'You owe
me' at Ryoko.
Predictably, Sasami giggled, despite the mild glare Ryoko
directed at her.
"Anyway," continued Ayeka, "We need you to send her a
message saying we're coming. It wouldn't do to drop by
unannounced."
"We wouldn't want to be rude," agreed Tenchi.
"Of course, no problem," Mihoshi said, nodding. "We can do
that, easy."
"Just a patch through the GP headquarters," seconded
Kiyone. "And the favor?"
"Well," Ayeka replied, hesitating as the waitress set out
their drinks, then continuing. "We think that it would be a good
idea for Sasami to have a little more time here on earth before
visiting home. She could enjoy a brief summer vacation while we
get through the preliminary negotiations with Mother and Father."
"Oh," Kiyone replied, nodding in understanding. "You don't
want her to catch any fallout."
"That and my father and Grandfather have plans to take her
to the beach. I'm sure the two of you would be welcome as well,"
supplied Tenchi.
"And after a while we'd like for you to bring her home in
Yagami. I'm sure matters will be resolved by then." (One way or
the other,) Ayeka didn't add.
"Oh, we'd get to take the trip with Sasami?" Mihoshi asked,
excited. "That'd be fun. We could show you what it's like to be
a Galaxy Police officer!"
Sasami nodded. "I'd like that. But we can still have fun
on Earth, too."
"You may even like it so much that you join someday,"
Mihoshi continued, lost in her own imagination. "I'm sure you'd
pass the tests easily; you'd be a great officer, Sasami. Of
course, you'd have to grow up a bit first, you're a little too
short to pass the physical right now..."
"Mihoshi. Hey, Mihoshi," Kiyone said patiently, grabbing
her partner's arm to get her attention. "Sasami is a princess.
Prin-cess. When she grows up she'll be ruling over an empire
that controls the Galaxy Police in all but name."
"Ohhh... I see. And if you joined the Galaxy Police
people would accuse you of having only gotten there thanks to
your family. I get that all the time, but it's just not true. I
got here own my own." Mihoshi paused. "Well, with Kiyone's help
too," she amended.
"Yes, we would be glad to give Sasami a ride. I'm sure
there won't be any problems arranging it with headquarters,
either," Kiyone said patiently, ignoring her partner.
"Thank you."
The rest of lunch passed quickly, and soon the two GP
officers had to go back to work. Their bags had turned out to
contain waitress uniforms, and soon they were waiting tables and
waving goodbye.
Tenchi and the girls were soon wandering the mall again,
this time looking for a little fun. And of course, being the
only male in the group, not to mention the boyfriend of two of
the girls present, Tenchi found himself carrying the entire load
of goods.
"Not that I mind or anything," he began, once the thought
occurred to him. "but since I'm being nice and obedient and
carrying all of your packages, Mistress Ayeka, shouldn't that
mean that I get out of the punishment?"
Tenchi had a fear of the newspaper even beyond that of the
whip. Of course, they each had their antithesis. Ryoko went
nicely submissive whenever either of the other two brought out
the handcuffs, and Ayeka could be knocked over with a feather.
Strangely enough, the very next day after Ryoko discovered that,
every feather pillow in the house was mysteriously replaced by
those filled with polyester stuffing.
"No, no, no," she chided. "Reward and punishment. Two
separate things. If we allowed one to cancel out the other, why,
you wouldn't have learned a thing. You'll get your reward, but
that simply comes after."
Sasami nodded. "Reward and punishment."
"Don't worry, Tenchi," Ryoko cooed into his ear. "I'll
make sure it's not _too_ bad." She giggled, then kissed his
cheek.
Not to be outdone, Ayeka leaned over and kissed his other
cheek. That wasn't so bad, but when she grabbed his rear and
squeezed he nearly dropped his load of packages. "Yes, you
shouldn't fret so much. The reward will be extra sweet."
A slow, stupid smile crawled across his face, and he had to
be steered around obstacles.
"Tenchi!" boomed a rough, nasal voice. "Hey, how are you
doing?"
He shook his head sharply, snapping himself out of it as
everyone looked at the owner of the voice. His classmate
Amagasaki loomed large in his vision. Very large. "Amagasaki?
What?"
"And hello to you three," he continued without pause.
"Tenchi, I saw these two girls kiss you back there, is one of
them your girlfriend?" This time he paused, silent, actually
waiting for an answer.
Tenchi sheepishly nodded and grinned, blushing. "Umm,
yeah, actually. Both of them."
The three girls looked at the large boy with an appraising
eye.
His classmate's eyes got real big. "Wow, hey, Tenchi, you
never told us you had a girlfriend! Much less two! Wait till
the guys back at school hear this!"
Tenchi groaned. (Not this, anything but this...)
"No wonder you never paid any attention to those girls, and
they were real cute too!" heedless of the two very nasty glares
he had caused to be directed at Tenchi, he continued digging a
hole for his friend. "We all kinda thought you were gay or
something. Oh, well, I lost that betting pool. Saichiro's gonna
be happy though. Hmm, I wonder if it counts? I mean, you are
dating two of them, maybe we can call it off. Anyway, I'll see
you at school tomorrow. Later, Tenchi!" Amagasaki roughly
patted his friend on the shoulder, nearly causing him to drop
everything, and continued his own trek through the mall.
"Yeah..." replied Tenchi weakly. "If there is a later..."
"Oh, there's going to be a later all right," promised
Ayeka.
"And you're going to tell us everything," vowed Ryoko.
"Why you felt the need to keep us a secret, and most importantly,
who are these girls and whether or not I need to kill them."
"Look," began Tenchi desperately, "I can explain. I didn't
tell the guys because none of them would believe me and I don't
like to brag, plus I didn't want to accidentally say anything
about Jurai. And you don't have to worry about the girls, there
were only three of them that wanted to go out with me."
Sasami raised an eyebrow at him. "Wow, Tenchi. You're in
for it, aren't you?"
His head sagged between his shoulders.
Shopping continued, and eventually Sasami dragged them off
to the arcade to play the latest video games.
That fun lasted a while, until the various drinks they had
consumed since that morning caught up with them and by mutual
agreement they all sought the restrooms.
Now, when the architects sit down and plan a mall, one of
the first things they ask themselves is 'Where do we put the
restrooms?' And the answer, invariably, is 'In the most out of
the way place possible.'
Why this is no one really knows, although it is thought
that perhaps the sight of a restroom will somehow distract
shoppers and make them buy less. Or perhaps they don't want
valuable walkway-front space taken up by something as mundane as
a restroom. Or maybe it's that no store wants to be positioned
right beside a restroom, never mind that it's the one place in a
mall people are guaranteed to walk by if they stay in there long
enough.
The Shinjuku-ko mall had several restrooms in fact, and
every one of them was down a narrow, dimly lit corridor leading
off one of the main areas. Tenchi and the girls were lucky,
there just happened to be a little-used one branching off the
arcade. Several right angle turns later, past locked doors,
humming machinery, and the back way into many different stores,
the narrow corridor suddenly doubled in width, providing a little
cubbyhole for two pay phones, a water fountain, and two
restrooms.
Tenchi considered for a moment, then spoke up. "You three
go on, I'll stay out here and guard our bags. I don't want to
set them down and turn my back."
The girls nodded assent without argument, being in no
little hurry. They disappeared.
Tenchi stood against the wall idly, watching people come
and go and listening to oddly soothing music playing over bad
speakers. Most of the traffic seemed to be young boys from the
arcade. Three of them hurried down the hall towards him, quickly
ducking into the bathroom. Two more emerged from within, also in
a hurry to get back to the games.
Tenchi whistled an aimless tune to himself, looking around.
The walls and floor were made of the same smooth brown tile,
which had a slightly greasy feel that made it uncomfortable to
walk on. A rolling mop bucket sat beside him, and the handle to
the mop lay propped against the wall beside him. The head
appeared to have been removed, and judging by appearances the
janitor was inside a barely open door a little further on,
probably getting more cleaning supplies. That little mystery
soon wore thin, and Tenchi sighed and squirmed. Just what was
taking the girls so long, anyway? He needed to go, too.
He started, standing straighter as the door to the women's
restroom opened, disgorging a loose group of women, most of which
quickly disappeared down the hall. He leaned back, disappointed.
There must have been a line in there.
Two of the girls, both about his own age and dressed in
similar blouse/skirt combinations, didn't follow the rest of the
group. One quickly picked up the pay phone and started putting
yen in the slot while the other copied Tenchi against the wall.
She smiled and nodded to him, which he returned.
Lacking anything else to do, he glanced over at the
newcomer. She was a bit shorter than him, with dark hair cut
short of her shoulders. She shifted her own shopping bag and
noticed his look, giving him an appraising look of her own.
Apparently liking what she saw, she continued her earlier
greeting. "Hello, I'm Sayuka."
"Hello," he replied. "I'm Tenchi. Nice to meet you."
Then, all too aware of what would be the result if Ayeka or Ryoko
walked out and found him talking to a strange girl, he kind of
coughed and turned away.
The girl wasn't to be put off so easily.
Rather boldly, she pressed on. "Are you waiting for
someone?"
"Umm, yeah," he replied, leaving it at that.
"Well, of course you are. You wouldn't be standing out
here for fun, would you?"
Her friend glanced up from the phone, then returned to her
own conversation without comment.
"Umm, no," Tenchi replied again.
Sayuka stepped closer. "Don't talk much, do you? Come on,
don't be shy. You're too cute to be shy."
(Ohboy. I hope the girls don't walk in on this,) thought
Tenchi. "Oh, you know, just... waiting." Thankfully, the
opening of the janitorial door diverted their attention. They
both looked up at the quartet of men who emerged, all wearing
dark trenchcoats over their equally dark clothes and large,
bulging backpacks over that.
"Hey, kids," one of them began, as another one trotted down
the hall away from the entrance. "You need to get out of here.
We're going to be moving machinery through here and we don't need
you in the way."
"Okay, can you give us a minute? I'm waiting on someone in
the bathroom," replied Tenchi as he gathered up his bags. He
sighed mentally. It looked like it would be a while before he
got to use the facilities.
Sayuka tapped her friend on the shoulder and gestured to
the man, motioning for the conversation to be ended quickly.
"That's fine," the man replied. "Just make it quick." He
turned to one of the others. "You, go down the hall and stop
other people from coming back here. We'll handle this end.
Remember, ten minutes."
The man nodded abruptly before trotting down the hall to do
his job.
Sayuka couldn't help but notice the way his trenchcoat,
hurriedly tied and more loose than the others, flapped as he
moved. Although not noticeable from any other angle, she was
provided with a brief but clear view of the inside of the
trenchcoat. Involuntarily, she dropped her bag and gaped in
surprise, her hands going to her throat. "Was that a gun?" she
asked aloud, far, far too loudly.
"Shit!" The man stopped immediately, turning and drawing
his weapon to point at her. The other two had already drawn
theirs to cover Tenchi and the other girl.
"Why, yes, it is," replied the leader in a deceptively
conversational voice, pointing a cheap .38 revolver at her torso.
"Why do you ask?"
(This isn't happening,) Tenchi thought, dropping his bags
and slowly raising his hands into the air at the gunman's
command. (This can't be real. No one has a gun here. This kind
of thing just doesn't happen.)
Despite the surreal feeling the situation created in the
three shoppers, the men remained very much there and pointing
guns at them.
"Alright!" exulted the last man. "I knew I was going to
kill some consumers today!" He said 'consumers' in the same tone
of voice someone else might say 'blood-sucking parasites'.
"Calmly, calmly, and no one gets hurt. You, hang up the
phone, now." To the first man he said, "Put that away and go
guard the entrance. We've got this covered."
"I know who you are," said Sayuka's friend, placing the
phone back on the hook. "You're those crazy commies who keep
bombing malls!"
"Hey," hissed Tenchi. "Don't call the nice man with the
gun a crazy commie!"
"A very good policy that is. Such a smart boy. We need
people that smart in this movement. Maybe..." he said
appraisingly, looking Tenchi over. Seeing him standing there
with his arms raised amid the bags and boxes of consumer goods he
had been carrying caused the gunman to reluctantly shake his
head. "No, you're far to indoctrinated into the capitalist
mentality. Just look at all those bags, purchased no doubt by
the sweat of the workers. Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Tenchi reluctantly concluded that protesting that he was
just carrying them for his girlfriends was probably a bad idea.
The squeaking of a laden cart started coming closer from
behind him. He paid it no mind. "In fact, you have it wrong.
We've never bombed anything. We usually just release nerve
toxins or biological agents into the ventilation system, usually
with good results. I think we even made the news once or twice,
kind of unusual considering the lockdown the government has on
it." He paused to let that sink in before continuing.
"We've got a lovely variety of anthrax for you today,
acquired rather cheaply from the Russians. They're practically
giving the stuff away." He halted once again, studying their
horrified expressions, and keeping them under guard as the cart
trundled up and into the open janitor door.
The three men pushing it glanced at the hostage scene, but
continued about their assigned task. Various hard to identify
sounds started coming from the open door as they presumably
started hooking the long flexible tubes the cart had been
festooned with to the big tank in the center.
"Ah, but why am I telling you this? You'll experience it
soon enough. And so will everyone else in the area. Really,
they need to have tighter security in these places if they expect
to keep us from doing this. Not cost effective, I suppose, and
the people suffer as they always do."
Just then, Sasami, Ayeka, and Ryoko stepped out of the
women's restroom. The gun was already pointed at them.
Ayeka, quickly recognizing the weapon from Earth television
shows, pushed Sasami behind her and instinctually activated her
defenses. They were all safe, but Tenchi was on his own.
"Ah, girls, so glad you could join us. Please put your
hands up, by the way." He gestured with his gun as they did so,
motioning for them to move completely out of the restroom door.
"We're going to be releasing deadly anthrax bacteria into the
mall in roughly..." he checked his watch. "three and a half
minutes." He nodded at them. "I suggest you say your tearful
goodbyes to each other now, and start begging for you lives. It
won't do any good, but hey, no one ever accused consumers of
having any dignity."
"Sheesh, who is this moron and why won't he shut up?" Ryoko
complained from behind Ayeka's invisible, impenetrable shield.
Tenchi had an idea. "He's a member of a terrorist group,"
he replied as the man started getting angry. "Some of his men
just took a big tank full of bacteria into that room over there,"
he nodded in the direction, mindful of the other man's gun still
pointed at him, "and if they open it we all die." Hopefully,
Ryoko would get the idea.
"Oh, maybe I should talk to them?" she replied, all sugar
and sweetness. "I'm sure I could talk them out of it."
"I doubt it," replied the man easily, setting down his bag
and covering them as his companion did likewise. "We're on a
mission for the people. We're going to overthrow this corrupt
government and make some changes to free the oppressed working
class. And there's nothing you can do about it," he said,
grinning as he pulled out a mask with one hand. Several tubes
ran back to the backpack, dragging the ground where he knelt.
Again, the other man did so as well.
Ayeka studied him with interest. "Oh, so you're one of
those crazy communists I've heard about on the news? Fancy
meeting you here. I've always wondered about that funny idea you
people have, as every truly _civilized_ being knows that an
enlightened monarchy with a powerful and well-educated ruling
class is the most stable and inherently desirable form of
government."
Of course, Ayeka was biased.
"Die bitch!" yelled the other man, apparently rather
sensitive to slights on his ideals of government. He swung his
gun to shoot, coincidently leaving Tenchi and the other two girls
unguarded.
Just then the leader's wristwatch started beeping,
indicating time to put on their oxygen masks. "Damn! Masks!" he
yelled, putting his over his head with one hand.
But the other man paid him no heed. He had time, and he
was going to kill the stuck up bitch first. Given his angle, and
the haste with which he seemed to be aiming, he could have hit
any of the three.
The mop handle that thwacked across the top of his hand,
broke his thumb, aimed the gun at the ground, knocked it from his
hand, and was directed with considerable force into the throat of
the briefly blind leader prevented any of that. Another quick,
well-practiced kendo move disarmed the leader as well, even as he
gagged and squirmed on the floor, and the handle was broken
across the back of the other man's head, sending him sprawling,
unconscious on the floor.
Later, Tenchi belatedly realized that he had been the one
to swing the mop handle. And he had been highly pissed.
Ryoko had disappeared almost instantly, and a small but
intense explosion shook the ground beneath them.
The other two girls fainted.
"Ryoko!" Tenchi called, grabbing her with one hand as she
materialized in front of her. "Another one is just up the hall!"
Ryoko disappeared even as Ayeka stepped into the hall in
the other direction, the expanded sphere of her power forcing the
cramped and narrow corridor into a new shape. Almost casually,
she slammed the two men into the wall and pressed them there. No
bullets would be coming by her, and any reinforcements had better
run while they could. Ryoko could handle the other direction.
Tenchi's first instinct was to run to her, hug her, and ask
if she was alright. After rebounding painfully from her shield
and being sent to the floor, he settled for grabbing Sasami into
a tight hug, soothing the now trembling girl.
Ryoko returned quickly, dumping another unconscious body on
the floor. "I didn't have time to do anything but vaporize the
tank," she explained. "But we're safe."
"Good," replied Tenchi. "If they had any reinforcements,
I'm sure they ran after the explosion. Maybe the cops will think
that they had a bomb attached and it went off. What about the
other men?"
Ryoko shrugged. "I was in a hurry." That was all the
explanation she would give.
"Thanks, Ryoko," Tenchi replied, grabbing her into a hug
with Sasami. "Ayeka, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm quite alright," she replied, returning to them
and joining the group hug. "Sasami? Are you okay?"
"I-I-'m fine. Just a little scared, I guess," she replied,
sniffling.
"That's okay, we're fine now," soothed Tenchi. "I was
scared, too. I still am, really. But we'll be okay. The police
will be here soon." He stood back from the three and ran over to
the other two girls, propping them against the wall.
He was moving Sayuka when he saw her eyelids flutter. "Are
you okay? Did you hit your head?" he asked, concerned.
She blinked rapidly and sat up, holding one hand to her
head. "What?" she asked, looking around and spying the
unconscious men. "You..." she started, unable to believe her
eyes. "You saved me." Then her eyes focused in on his. "My
hero!" she cried, clutching at him and pursing her lips for a
kiss.
The tender moment was ruined almost instantly as she was
ripped from him and all but flung bodily down the hall.
"No, he's OUR hero!" Ayeka corrected loudly, grabbing
Tenchi.
"Yeah," Ryoko growled, also grabbing onto him. "So back
off!"
Sayuka stared in a mixture of anger, disappointment, and
astonishment as the two girls proceeded to shower him with praise
and kisses.
"You were really amazing, Tenchi!" Ryoko told him. "After
all that practice with your grandfather, you're really good!"
"Yes, that was so brave, Tenchi! You saved us!"
He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I just,
you know, couldn't let him _shoot_ at you!"
"Thank you, Tenchi," Sasami said, taking his hand with her
small one. "You were a real hero."
He struggled to keep the goofy smile off his face. "Yes,
well, I couldn't have done it without you two. Thank you, Ryoko,
Ayeka."
"Yes, thank you very much, Ryoko," Ayeka agreed, but Tenchi
continued.
"And not that I don't enjoy this, but could you please let
me go?" Tenchi asked plaintively. "I really do need to use the
bathroom."
They all laughed and let go, allowing him to stand.
"NOBODY MOVE!"
And, of course, that's when the police arrived and the
questioning started.
The police took statements from everyone. Apparently, the
terrorists had attached a thermite bomb to their tank of bacteria
in case they suddenly needed to ditch the evidence and it had
accidentally went off, killing several of them while fortunately
vaporizing the bacteria.
Ryoko looked oddly proud. And while Tenchi wasn't happy
about the loss of life, he certainly wasn't about to complain.
That had distracted the two holding them hostage, allowing
Tenchi to do a very brave and very stupid thing like knocking
them all unconscious with a mop handle. Then, when their guard
had come running back, he had been so surprised that Tenchi had
managed to knock him unconscious as well. Their interrogator
spent much of his time chewing Tenchi out for being a 'damned
hero wannabe', until Ayeka and Ryoko were forced to step forward
and he was forced to step back.
The news media soon arrived and interviewed them all once
the police were through, until they were stopped by the police
and made to vacate the premises. The Shinjuku-ko mall was closed
until a thorough sweep was made to make sure there were no other
nasty surprises, and all of the remaining men were taken away.
And yes, Tenchi was eventually allowed to use the restroom.
****************
"Ahh, it's so great to be home," Tenchi enthused as the
group of very tired people finally trooped through the front door
with all their packages.
"I wonder if we're going to be on the news?" wondered
Ryoko. "I've been on the news before, but usually while they
said 'Have you seen this person? If so, call the Galaxy Police
at...'"
Ayeka smiled wanly. "Well, I for one simply look forward
to a bath and some sleep. Who knew that terrorists could be so
exhausting?"
"I think that was the police," Tenchi reminded as they all
entered the living room and plopped down on the couch.
"Ah, yes. That's true," she agreed ruefully.
Ryoko turned the TV on and started channel surfing. "Well,
I'm still impressed, Tenchi. You really kept your cool out
there. I'd be glad to have you in my raiding party any day."
He blushed. "Aww, thanks. I just did what I had to do."
"Much more than you had to, my love." Ayeka patted his
leg. "And we're all thankful for it."
Tenchi brightened.
"But that doesn't mean you're getting out of your
punishment."
He drooped.
"Hey, hey! We're on!" exclaimed Ryoko excitedly, gesturing
for them to turn their attention to the TV.
"Earlier today, police caught several members of the
'People's Coalition Against Capitalist Exploitation' as they were
attempting to release deadly bacteria into the air of a local
mall. Officials say that they expect to capture the rest of the
organization shortly, and that there is little threat from them
in the future." The announcer smiled warmly. "And in other
news, the Tokyo Zoo is buzzing with excitement today over its
latest acquisition. Ping-Ping, an endangered giant panda from
China, arrived earlier today and was put in her new home, where
she's now resting comfortably. Let's hear from Miko at the zoo."
"What?! They cut us out in favor of some dumb bear?"
Ryoko growled and clenched her hands into fists. "The whole
world should hear of Tenchi's bravery!"
Ayeka just sighed philosophically. "I'd imagine that it
would hurt the mall's reputation to be associated with a
terrorist attack and they had the news hush it up. It's not
unknown."
"But... But they interviewed us and everything!"
"There there, Ryoko," Tenchi consoled, wrapping one arm
around her. "I'm sorry you didn't get on the news like you
wanted. But I'm kind of relieved. I'll have enough rumors
flying around at school as it is."
"Oh, yeah!" Sasami exclaimed suddenly, snapping her
fingers. "You didn't say Washu-chan earlier today, Ayeka!"
"Whppa?! Kappa!"
Tenchi and Ryoko stared, mouths agape, at the short
greenish creature now sharing the couch with them.
"You remember," Sasami said patiently. "When we were in
the cafe and you were talking about the weird inventions, like
the hat."
The kappa frowned and shook its head.
Sasami nodded. "Yep, you did. I heard it. And then you
caught Ryoko when she was about to forget right after that."
The kappa turned and fixed Ryoko with a steely glare.
She couldn't help it. Ryoko giggled.
Judging by Ayeka's expression, at least, that which those
not used to the expressions of kappa creatures could read, she
didn't think it was funny at all.
In fact, she jumped down off the couch and ran from the
room.
Ryoko, Tenchi, and Sasami exchanged a look.
Ayeka-kappa ran back into the room on her short little
legs, now brandishing a large rolled-up newspaper. She shook it
furiously at both Tenchi and Ryoko, who paled.
Everyone stopped, considering their options. Tenchi eyed
the door, Ryoko eyed the ceiling, Ayeka eyed them both, and
Sasami just watched it all, giggling silently.
And then, everything happened at once.
A little later...
"WHERE WERE YOU ON THAT ONE, HUH RYOKO? HUH?!"
*THWAP*
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Hahhah, I'll pay more attention
next time!" It was just newspaper, after all.
"But you weren't that time, were you?! You thought it was
funny! You _laughed_!"
*THWAP*
"I'm sorry! Really I am! Hahaheh, really! I didn't mean
it! NO! Not the creAAAGH!"
"Who's laughing now?! Who's laughing now?!"
As a matter of fact, Sasami was.
"Looks like Princess Ayeka is disciplining Miss Ryoko
again," commented Azaka to his fellow giant floating log as they
listened to the faint screams the night air carried to them where
they stood guard at the gate.
"Certainly sounds that way," Kamidake agreed. "I thought I
heard Lord Tenchi run from the house a little earlier, although
it was a little late for a jog. Perhaps this is the reason?"
"Quite possibly. Although Princess Ayeka is likely to take
a dim view of anyone skipping out on their punishment."
"Indeed."
They both paused.
Then...
"Lord Tenchi is in trou~ble. Lord Tenchi is in trou~ble,"
they both chorused in a singsong voice.
****************
"Hmm, hmmm hmmm hmmmhmmhmm hmnmhmmhmmhmmnnhmmmm..." Washu
hummed cheerily to herself, tinkering idly with a nameless wafer-
thin board.
"Washu-chan! You've got an incoming message!" chirped the
Washu-bot that appeared on her left shoulder.
"A message? From the outside?" Washu wondered, setting the
circuit board aside. She flexed her hands in a subtle command,
bringing up a holographic screen to display the prerecorded
message.
Kiyone and Mihoshi's faces appeared before her.
"Hello, Washu-chan!" Mihoshi chirped brightly, having been
thouroughly coached beforehand.
Washu smiled. It was so thoughtful of them to call her
that.
"Yes, hello, Washu-chan," started Kiyone. "How are you?
We'd all love to hear from you."
Mihoshi interrupted her. "How is your work going? Do you
like your new planet? Did you really get sucked into a black
hole for three weeks like Ryoko says?"
Washu reflexively made a warding sign and fervently hoped
not. Mihoshi always threw her plans out of whack.
"Aha, ahah ha, she's just kidding," Kiyone hastily assured
her. "Anyway, Tenchi, Ayeka, and Ryoko asked us to send you this
message." She carefully unfolded a piece of paper and began to
read from it.
"Most cordial greetings, Washu-chan," Kiyone began.
Despite listening to Kiyone's voice as she heard it, Washu
could very easily picture the prim princess saying those very
words.
"As you know, Tenchi, Ryoko, and myself wish to join
together in most holy matrimony. Tenchi's father and grandfather
have already given their blessings, and Ryoko's family cannot be
found, but to proceed any further we must consult with my own
father and mother."
Kagato's hands clenched together at this new relevation as
it appeared on his own screen, convienently tapped into Washu's
as it was. He took several deep breaths and forced himself to
watch more.
"In about ten days Tenchi will be given a vacation from
school and we will be leaving in Ryo-Ohki to visit my parents.
Ryoko says that Ryo-Ohki doesn't like long trips, and is not
really sutiable for them either, so we will be making short jumps
from system to system. As your planet, Washu-chan Prime is
within our flight path, we would very much enjoy the opportunity
to stop by and visit for a short while."
"Tenchi Masaki? Here?! It's PERFECT!" Kagato exclaimed
excitedly. "Oh, the comparisons and final tuning I could make!
Current brain scans! Current metabolism maps! Oh, and the
conversations we could have," Kagato paused, lost in some private
daydream. He shook himself back to reality. "But I'm not
ready..." he trailed off, then halted, plan after plan racing
through his head. "Actually, I think I am. Hmmm..." He smiled.
"Oh Washuuu-CHAN, I've got something for you..." He rose from
his floating seat and left his quarters with great purpose.
"Please respond quickly. The Galaxy Police will be more
than happy to forward your message to Yagami, and we can receive
it from there. Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you once
again." Kiyone bowed deeply, folding the message and tucking it
back in a pocket.
"Visitors! Oh, I'd love to show them around," exclaimed
Washu to herself, mentally composing a reply.
"Thank you, Washu-chan, we look forward to your reply,"
Kiyone finished for herself, bowing again.
"Bye, Washu-chan! See you later!" chirped Mihoshi,
bouncing slightly and waving.
The message ended.
Yeah, I know, there ain't much in the way of sex in this one. But
before you think I'm just going to turn this into a mildly sexual
comedy, you just wait. I'm fairly well into the next part, and boy does
it get kinky.
http://members.tripod.com/ballisticsausage/index.html
-Ragun P. Moody
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